Waffles comprise an ever popular and easily prepared type of food product, which is typically consumed during the breakfast meal. The typical waffle is generally made from a batter having an initially amorphous, fluid-like consistency, which is cooked in between two opposing plates in order to form a generally flat, planar-shaped product having depressions formed in the upper and lower surfaces thereof that gives the waffle its characteristic shape as well as to provide a containment means for other complementary condiment items such as butter or syrup. The batter, from which the waffle is made, generally includes a mixture of flour, eggs, milk or water, oil, baking powder, and may optionally include several other ingredients that serves to enhance the taste or texture thereof.
Due to the popularity of the waffle as a consumable food item, many different types of waffle making devices have been proposed that have enabled the formation of waffles having different shapes and sizes. For example, the most commonly known type of waffle shape is flat in shape and has a generally circular periphery and is made from a waffle maker such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,412,400 to Gambino. Examples of other waffle makers include Pat. No. D237,935 to Nygren, U.S. Pat. No. 1,553,989 to Cook, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,860,191 to Jackson, et al., which are each adapted to create a waffle product having a rectangular, diamond or heart, and elongated stick outer peripheral shape respectively. Nevertheless, a major drawback of each of these waffle dimensional qualities, as well as any other type of waffle shapes known to the inventor, is that the waffle product is too large to be consumed without having been previously cut into smaller consumable pieces.
The requirement of sectioning the conventional waffle into a plurality of smaller consumable portions by the user or consumer of the waffle, creates several salient drawbacks. First, the consistency of most conventional waffles is such that a relatively large force by the user is required to cut thereinto using the edge of a typical fork. To alleviate this problem, users not having sufficient overall hand or arm strength typically revert to the use of a table knife in order to section the waffle product into smaller bite-sized manageable pieces, a practice that is clearly burdensome to the user. Another inherent drawback is that condiments such as butter or syrup, which have been deposited within depressions formed in the upper surface of the waffle, invariably flow onto the serving plate upon being cut into by a fork or knife, thereby creating a mess on the plate and thus wasting valuable condiment material.
Thus there has been a long-felt, unsatisfied need for a waffle having dimensional qualities which enables consumption by a user without the necessity of cutting or severing thereof by a typical eating utensil such as a fork or knife, wherein the outer periphery of the waffle incorporates a predetermined outer peripheral geometry which allows multiple waffles to be cooked using a waffle plate having a minimally sized overall surface area.